Scan the NFL standings, and you’ll quickly notice a strong correlation. Nearly all of the cellar dwellers have bad quarterback situations, and there are very few exceptions to this rule of thumb. Some are worse than others, though, so it’s worth taking a deeper dive into some of the specific disasters to see how mismanagement and sheer incompetence landed these teams in the disaster zone.
The Las Vegas Raiders shuffle deck chairs
Whether the Las Vegas Raiders actually have the worst QB situation in the league may be arguable, but they win the prize here because they clearly believe that Black Monday shouldn’t just be an annual event where coaches get fired the day after the regular season ends.
Instead, it was offensive coordinator Luke Getsy who got the gate, along with two other offensive coaches. These coaches were charged with the task of making chicken salad out of the combination of Gardner Minshew and Aidan O’Connell, with retread Desmond Ridder joining the bad QB parade yesterday.
This is the NFL equivalent of shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic, although in this case Getsy and colleagues were basically pushed overboard. It won’t make much difference going forward, but it does make Las Vegas look busy.
Indianapolis Colts and Anthony Richardson
The Colts made it look like they were trying to develop Anthony Richardson, until they went into this week at 4-4 and they realized they could actually sneak into the playoffs if a lot of things broke right. But Richardson’s meltdown last week made so many headlines that they benched him and once again turned to Joe Flacco, who celebrated the passing of Halloween by turning back into a pumpkin. No one knows which end is up in Indy at this point, and it feels like just a matter of time before the Colts follow the Raiders lead and sharpen the coaching guillotine.
The Cleveland Browns now have the Jameis Winston show
Winston gave Browns fans a brief break from the Deshaun Watson disaster, but we all know who Winston is at this point, and he proceeded to prove it with a three-pick performance to go with a lost fumble performance against the Chargers. Cleveland already knows the limits of what Dorian Thompson-Robinson can do, so we’ll likely see more of the same from Jameis Winston as the Browns struggle to figure out the best way to get out from under Watson’s albatross contract.
No one knows what the Panthers are doing with Bryce Young
The good news here is that Carolina a finally won a game with Young under center, but this one feels like the definition of a Pyrrhic victory. Beating the Saints with Derek Carr on the other side of the ball isn’t really an achievement, and Young’s numbers were underwhelming. We’ll see more of Young going forward barring a shocking trade, but the results probably won’t be pretty.
The Tennessee Titans now have two turnover-prone quarterbacks
Putting the Will Levis story in park when he hurt his should felt more like a benching, but Mason Rudolph is no solution. He has stretches where he plays competently and makes some impressive throws, until the inevitable turnovers occur. He’s not as bad as some of the other names on this list, but the biggest question going forward is whether this QB combo gets rookie coach Brian Callahan fired given how frequently he looks overwhelmed by the job.
Daniel Jones and the New York Giants
Say what you will about Daniel Jones, but he’s mastered the art of being consistently inconsistent. A bad Jones game will almost always be followed by a mediocre one, and every once in a while he’ll play just well enough to allow the G-men to eke out an unexpected win. Brian Daboll has already received the dreaded vote of confidence from owner John Mara, but if he’s smart he’s got his realtor working the phones—hard.